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It is that time of year again, time for some new laws. Ralph Robles Law would like to highlight the following new laws:

Cannabis Use in Vehicles: This law prohibits smoking or ingesting marijuana or marijuana products while driving or riding as a passenger in a vehicle. The DMV will assign negligent operator point counts for this violation.

Buses and Seatbelts: Beginning July 1, 2018, this law requires a passenger on a bus equipped with seat belts to be properly restrained by a safety belt. This law also prohibits a parent, legal guardian, or chartering party to transport on a bus, or permit to be transported on a bus, a child who is at least 8 years of age but under 16 years of age, unless they are properly restrained by a safety belt or an appropriate child passenger restraint system that meets federal safety standards. A violation of these provisions is an infraction punishable by a fine.

DUI – Passenger for Hire: Beginning July 1, 2018, this law makes it unlawful for a person to operate a motor vehicle with a blood alcohol concentration of 0.04 percent or more when a passenger for hire is in the vehicle at the time of the offense. This will mean that drivers of passenger for hire, in their personal vehicles, will be held to a higher standard of safety while transporting people. The DMV will suspend a person’s driver license if a conviction is added to their record. Commercial driver license holders will receive a disqualification.

Parking Violations for Registration or Driver License Renewal: This law makes changes to a requirement under which vehicle registration renewal and driver license issuance or renewal is not granted for having unpaid parking penalties and fees. The law creates a process for low-income Californians with outstanding parking violations to repay their fines and penalties prior to the parking violation being reported to the DMV. The law also allows the registered owner of a vehicle to file for Planned Non-Operation status when unpaid parking penalties are on the vehicle’s record. It also allows for someone with outstanding parking penalties and fees, to obtain or renew a driver license.

HOV Decal Program: Beginning January 1, 2019, this law creates a new decal program to allow certain low emission vehicles to access high-occupancy vehicle lanes, regardless of vehicle occupancy level, for a four-year term. Access to high-occupancy vehicle lanes for vehicles with green and white decals will expire January 1, 2019. Vehicles issued a green or white decal in 2017 or 2018 will be eligible to reapply for a decal in 2019 granting them access to high–occupancy toll lanes until January 1, 2022.

::rar::if a man empties his purse into his head, no man can take it away from him. an investment in knowledge always pays the best interest. ~benjamin franklin~

Disclaimer: Nothing here is meant to create an attorney client relationship. These posts are meant for general information (or humor) only. Ralph Robles Jr. practices in San Jose, CA and many of these posts deal with CA law, it may be different in your state or even county.

​“How they hell do I get out of here?” is a better title for this post.

Depending on what the police accuse you of doing, the date, and the time, you will be released in a couple of hours or you will be held for up to 48 hours to face the judge for the first time. When you are released or at this first hearing, called an arraignment, you will be informed of the charges against you and will be asked for your plea, either guilty or not guilty. Then, depending on the charges against you, there will be a discussion about whether bail will be set, or not set, and how much that bail will be.

The judge generally has three options when it comes to bail. The first option is no bail, which is reserved for serious crimes and usually involves some sort of danger to the community or flight risk. The second option is to set bail along a set schedule. Each county has a proposed schedule based on the type of crime and the charges. Typically, the bail will be set at the amount shown for the most serious charge. (This may vary county to county) The third option is some form of own recognizance, either own recognizance or supervised own recognizance.

​The purpose of bail is to make sure that the person will come back to court when they say they will. If you, or your attorney, do not make your appearances, a judge will issue an arrest warrant for you and your bail is subject to forfeit. There are multiple ways to make bail, but the most common is the cash bond. This is where a bail bondsman comes in.

A bail bondsman is someone who has cash on hand to bail you out. The way it typically works is that the bail bondsman will post a bond to the court and you will pay the bondsman some percentage of the bail (typically 10% but some bail bondsman offer less depending on discounts and if you have an attorney). This percentage can usually be paid with a down payment and future smaller payments. For example, if you commit a crime and have your bail set at $50,000 and the bail bonds charges 10%, you will have to pay the bail bondsman $5,000 along a schedule the two of you work out.

​Once the trial is over or the case is resolved, the bail bondsman receives their bond back and the client continues to pay until the agreed amount is paid off. If you do not make it to court, some bail bondsman will hire an investigator or bounty hunter to make sure the client is returned to court if they do not appear in court (also known as skipping or jumping bail).

​(That is where Dog the Bounty Hunter comes in.)

::RAR::if a man empties his purse into his head, no man can take it away from him. An investment in knowledge always pays the best interest. ~benjamin franklin~

​Disclaimer: Nothing here is meant to create an attorney client relationship. These posts are meant for general information (or humor) only. Ralph Robles Jr. practices in San Jose, CA and many of these posts deal with CA law, it may be different in your state or even county.

A wild blog appears. I have been busy and neglected my poor blog. I had some time over the weekend and wanted to say something about the Brian Williams controversy.

​The story broke a couple of weeks ago that Brian Williams had misremembered his experiences in Iraq, notably that the helicopter he was on was never fired upon. Many are calling into question Mr. William’s credentials as a long time host of NBC Nightly News and accusing him of him intentionally misleading, even lying to, the public about his Iraq War experience. While I do not know the whole story, no one probably does, I do not hold anything against Mr. Williams.

The brain is not infallible. Scientists have completed numerous studies that show that a person’s memory can fade and distort from reality. Once the false memory is planted, it is remembered and equal to other memories. A recent study conducted by Julia Shaw, even went as far as to get innocent students to confess to a fake crime. The study showed that “With a little misinformation, encouragement and three hours, researchers were able to convince 70 percent of the study’s participants that they’d committed a crime.” (Link)

It is scary that detectives use similar tactics in criminal cases and that innocent people have confessed to committing the crime. (Link) It is easy for jurors to hear that someone confessed or that a witness remembers something and convict based on that information. But this information is not always the truth and is not the fault of the defendant or the witness.

Only Mr. Williams will know whether he lied or not. I hope that this conversation will lead to a larger discussion on what it means to remember something vs. truth. I know I will be let down.​::RAR::old wine, and an old friend, are good provisions. ~george herbert, jacula prudentum

This blog will focus on what it is like to be a criminal defense lawyer with a new practice and criminal defense matters for the everyday person. My practice mainly focuses on driving under the influence (DUI’s) and other simple misdemeanors (assault, petty theft. etc.) and traffic infractions.

Stay tuned for more content as the weeks go by.​::RAR::if the eye does not want to see, neither light nor glasses will help. ~proverb, (german)